There has recently been a lot of publicity surrounding the changes to pension rules from 6th April 2015. This date has been referred to as 'pension freedom day' and introduced new rules, such as enabling some pension scheme members to take all or part of their pension pot as a lump sum from age 55.

Please be aware these changes do not apply to unfunded public sector schemes which include the NHS, Teachers, Fire and Police pension schemes in Scotland. However, these schemes still allow certain members to claim their pension from age 50 or 55 and also commute (give up) an amount of pension to increase the lump sum, but this is subject to a number of conditions, including date of entry to the scheme.